The first x-ray image of a human body part (a hand) was taken in 1895, launching the discipline of radiology. One of the first medical diagnostic applications a few years later showed a penny lodged in the throat of a child. But using x-rays to distinguish characteristics of soft tissue proved more difficult—as the attenuation of the x-rays (the relative amount that passes through tissue depending on density) is very subtle and hard to distinguish in a resulting black & while “x-ray.” It would take years until the first mammography machine were commercially used to detect masses in breast tissue. Those mammograms used x-ray film. Digital mammography was introduced in 1972 and by the 1990s digital mammograms had become standard medical practice—despite some misgivings about the hidden details that some scientists believe were lost when transitioning from analog imaging.
Today, 40 million digital mammograms are generated each year in the US and more than 50 percent now deploy advanced 3D digital mammography called tomosynthesis. Digital mammography has proven able to detect cancer early and is the only screening modality approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. However, mammography is under increasing scrutiny because of persistent shortcomings with both early detection and too many false positives that lead to additional imaging and unwarranted biopsies. Both problems result in deleterious health effects for women and increase operational and litigation costs for healthcare providers. In light of these trends, several current studies reexamine the advisability of recommended screening regimes for all women.
For the majority of patients, mammography works well, but 40 percent of women have dense breast tissue that can “mask” cancer in black-and-white mammograms. This is true because both tumors and naturally occurring dense breast tissue appear as white on black-and-white mammograms. The natural dense tissue can obscure morphological characteristics of the tumor, making it much harder for the radiologist to see the grayscale gradation typically extending from the center of a tumor, where it is densest, to the outlying edges of the tumor that are typically less dense. It also makes it difficult to see extending tentacles indicative of aggressive growth and the spikes and points called spiculation that are telltale characteristics of malignancy. Importantly, women with dense breast tissue also have a higher natural incidence of cancer, so their need for a better screening method is even greater.
Although mammography is an important application of radiological imaging, there are many other medical imaging applications that suffer from shortcomings of the prior art.
Objects of the invention are to provide improved systems, apparatus and methods of medical and, more particularly, digital, imaging.
Other objects of the invention are to provide such improved systems, apparatus and methods as are suitable for medical diagnosis and/or treatment.
Further related such objects of the invention are to provide such improved systems, apparatus and methods for medical diagnosis and/or treatment that overcoming shortcomings of the prior art with respect to the foregoing.